my top 10, in no particular order (not including the stuff i've put out, which i dearly love)
deftones - diamond eyes
groan - s/t
ghost - opus eponymous
humanfly - darker later
brutality will prevail - root of all evil
taint - all bees to the sea
anathema - we're here because we're here
flatlands - s/t
black mass - s/t
koresh - crippledriver
Watain - Lawless Darkness
Ghost - Opus Eponymous
Electric Wizard - Black Masses
The Xcerts - Scatterbrain
Witchsorrow - s/t
Flatlands - s/t
I'm struggling to get my list down to 10 but it's looking like
JPT Scare Band - Acide Blues is the White Man's Burden
Stone Axe - II
Crass - Feeding of the 5000 reissue
Dopefight - Buds
Poobah - Let Me In reissue
Rose Kemp - Golden Shroud
The Brought Low - 3rd Record
Solace - AD
Righteous Fool - 7"
Black Sun - Twilight of the Gods
Honourable mentions go to
Domes of Silence - Hunter ST
Wino - Adrift
Crass - Stations of the Crass reissue
The Soulbreaker Company - Itaca
Honcho - Battle of Wits
Luder - Sonoluminescence
Sardonis - S/T
Loads to choose from this year, but these make my Top Of the Pops.
Swans- My Father Will Guide Me Up A Rope To the Sky
Black Breath- Heavy Breathing
Kylesa- Spiral Shadow
Regimes- Bloody Regimes
Violent Arrest- Minute Manifestos
Bastard of the Skies- Ichor! Ichor!
Electric Wizard- Black Masses
High On Fire- Snakes For the Divine
Mogwai- Special Moves
Triptykon- Eparistera Daimones
Oops, had to do a quick edit; just realised I'd missed uncle Tom G from the list.
I've hardly bought anything this year, especially not anything from this year.
I thought Black Masses was decent, certainly not great though. Had a listen to the new Torche online but got bored. I do need to check out Kylesa though, and probably some others I've forgotten about.
1. Cathedral – “The Guessing Game” – If this really is the end of their journey, I’ll be over the moon for them; an epic double-album with beautiful instrumentation, galloping rhythms and progressive passages of astonishing grandeur.
2. The Sword – “Warp Riders” – Indulgently infectious, Austin’s premier riffers launch their most ambitious project to date; a space-rock bible full of power, imagination and finesse.
3. High On Fire – “Snakes For The Divine” – Matt Pike and co smash their way into the mainstream with a stunningly monstrous album which finds that perfect niche between smouldering doom and power-stance heavy metal.
4. Dopefight – “Buds” – I was gobsmacked when I first played this – it’s all I really look for in a band most of the time, an astonishing display of riffing force, gargantuan grooves and intricate percussion play which is subtle enough to e new even after several listens.
5. Tweak Bird – “Tweak Bird” – The brothers Bird prove just how far they have come as musicians with a short but sweet debut album which manages to reach an extra dimension via the traditional stoner fuzz template.
6. Chrome Hoof – “Crush Depth” – These guys cannot be pigeonholed at all, nor do they even have a regular line-up, which makes this disco-doom bonanza even more fascinating with every listen.
7. Electric Wizard – “Black Masses” – The Dorset masters annihilate the competition once again with a psychedelic apocalypse of blackened depression; Jus Osborn’s best vocal performance to date adds another level to their arsenal of musical accomplishments.
8. Astrohenge – “Astrohenge” – Ludicrous musicianship blending turbocharged riffage with jazz funk, Mastodonian progressions and fairground-doom.
9. Gospel of the Future – “The Eclipse” – Definitely took me surprise after I offered to review the fourth album by these little known Czech nasties – huge chasms of scything black metal guitar and sludge-rock pace, complemented by rolling drummed thunder.
10. Dan Sartain – “Dan Sartain Lives” – Groovy Alabaman rockabilly from this addictive one-man show, with a glorious Elvis Costello croon and a thousand song writing styles.
Honourable mentions:
Groan – “The Sleeping Wizard”
Koresh – “Crippledriver”
Ghost – “Opus Eponymous”
Karma to Burn – “Appalachian Incantation”
Wiht – “Wiht EP”
Enforcer – “Diamonds”
Taint – “All Bees to the Sea EP”
Lightening Wolf – Brain Explosion
Lucifer’s Hobbit - Hammer & Pain
Neon Backlash – Mr Saturday Night
Small Giant – Do you want to put your balls in as well?
Slogg - Advanced genocide 2000
Time head – Mushroom power
Satanchrist – Fuck the lord, make him cum
Merry Olde England – Does the jester jest?
Powerfly – Hard touch
Electric Asshole – In it to win it (Re-issue)